Brazilian city council candidate passes out cocaine in exchange for votes

A woman running for a city council position in Brazil, the world’s second-largest consumer of cocaine, was arrested on Sunday — election day — after allegedly handing out packets of cocaine with candidate leaflets that contained instructions on how to vote for her.

32-year-old Carme Cristina da Silva Lima was a city council candidate for the northwestern Brazilian city of Itacoatiara.

According to Brazilian website TNONline, police officers noticed a large crowd around Lima’s car on Sunday. The crowd quickly dispersed after the policemen arrived.

“According to locals, she had been distributing the drugs since early in the morning, on condition that people vote for her,” police chief Daniel Ottoni told TNONline.

Lima and an unnamed accomplice fled the scene by car and threw bags of cocaine out the window. They were soon surrounded and taken into custody.

Lima was arrested for drug dealing and electoral corruption. If convicted, she could be banned from taking public office for at least eight years.

TNONline reports that Lima’s husband is currently in prison for drug trafficking.